Chapter 1: Running For My Life.

Thud... thud... thud... thud...

The repeated sound of my paws hitting the damp ground as I run as fast and as far as they will take us, away from that horrific massacre. I am a wolf with no name, but my human is known as Hades and we have just lost everything we have ever cared about. We are currently running through the forest in my form because he is currently unable to cope with the grief he is suffering from. Tonight, was supposed to be a night of joy and celebration, our mother had just announced that she was pregnant again and the pack were celebrating the expansion of the Alpha family.

But everything went wrong after that....

I was playing near the forest edge with some other pups when the first alarm came through the pack link.

‘Intruders! Rogues on the west border!’

‘East!’

‘North!’

‘Sou.......’

The last one sent everyone into a frenzy as when a mind link is severed in such a way it means only one thing and when I looked toward my parents, I could see the pain they felt. That warrior to the South was now dead and we were all now in danger. My human tried running to his parents desperate to help but he was too slow and too far away.

Mangy wolves began running into the clearing from all sides and attacking everyone, women and children were slaughtered while their mates failed to protect them and they died at the mercy of the enemy while paralyzed from the pain of losing their loved ones.

The unmated warriors defending as best they could, lasted longer, but still fell in the end to the overwhelming power of the Rogues, until my Parents and a few weak wolves were the only ones left. Corralled into the center like sheep and kept there waiting.

We had been knocked under a table in the commotion and were not far from where the remaining members of our pack were, when ‘he’ arrived. From his power we could feel he was an Alpha, but he was the wrong colour. His dirty matted coat was Brown and shaggy, nothing like our fathers’ beautiful black shiny fur.

All the Alphas of the other packs are black wolves with some varying differences not any are a solid black in colour not even our father, who has one grey paw. Our father is in his wolf form trying to protect our mother as the brown wolf advances and challenges him.

Our father is the Alpha of our pack, it is his duty to defend all its members until his final breath, so naturally he accepts the challenge. We watch in horror as they battle and gradually the pain from losing too many pack members proves to be too much for him to handle allowing the Brown wolf to overpower him and in one final move it clamps it’s jaws around his neck and pulls his head off.

“Nooooooooo!!!!!!!”

That shrill scream will forever haunt my dreams as our mother is overwhelmed from the loss of her mate and loses her mind. She shifts into her grey wolf and attacks the wolves around her in a mindless rage. In true Luna form she rips three rogue wolves apart before any of them are able to react, but then the brown Alpha leaps onto her and quickly ends her life by snapping her neck.

The remaining pack members are screaming for the loss of their Alpha pair and the rogues are advancing ready to finish them off and finally wipe our pack from existence. That’s when I felt it, the transfer was gradual at first but now the feeling reached its peak, and I felt my human shift for the first time.

All through the attack and during the fight our father had been gradually transferring his power of pack Alpha to me. A safeguard to ensure to continuation of our line. Only the most powerful of Alphas are able to do this without a blood sharing ritual and our father was such an Alpha.

Black fur erupts over my body and my bones snap and realign themselves until I am fully released in my wolf form. My human Hades' conscious mind is pulled back to where I normally reside, and I take over allowing my heightened senses to help me direct my rage and pain. I rush out from my hiding spot and attack the rogues.

Because I am small, I am fast and since our father believed that even children needed to know how to defend themselves during an attack, I know how to fight too. But this is my first time in wolf form, however if I focus on getting to their weak points then my teeth and claws should be enough to do the rest.

I manage to kill enough for the last pack members to try to escape, but I’m still only a pup and soon the other rogues are landing injuries on me of their own. One manages to claw my back, and I let out a howl of pain, before leaping away from them to avoid more injuries. The brown Alpha advances on me snarling viciously, but I growl back which surprises him.

He takes a moment to look over me and seeing that I am a black wolf and that I am standing up to him, he growls and leaps to me to attack. From his position and his anger, I can tell he intends to kill me, and he is larger and more powerful than me, so, there is only one choice I can make.

RUN!!

I turn tail as fast as I can and run through the trees, zig zagging and using my knowledge of our lands, to evade my pursuers as long as I can. But these injuries are tiring me out and I don’t have much energy left. I cross a stream and take a moment to have a drink and to rinse my fur, to attempt to dispel the scent of blood, before continuing on.

Thud... thud...

The sound of my paws on the ground fills my ears again as I return to my present from reliving the last few hours.

Finally, my body gives out and I collapse on the ground below, I cannot move any further and as I strain to open my eyes, I see trees that are unfamiliar to me. I don’t know how far I have run, but I can only pray it is far enough. I try to reach out for Hades, but he is buried deep within our subconscious, so I assume that he means for me to take over for now.

Eventually, my eyes begin to droop, and I fall into a deep sleep, where only the blackness of my mind and the nightmares of my family’s fate, are there to greet me.

The snapping of a twig nearby startles me awake and I jolt up from my prone position on the floor but collapse again due to weakness. I look around and lock my gaze with an entrancing Blue pair of eyes, that are staring back at me from a short distance away, through the trees.

I growl in warning, I don’t want any trouble, but I am wary of this person and what they want, they smell human at least, but they could be a hunter.

“Shh, easy there, pup, I’m not here to hurt you, I want to help you.”

“Grrrrrlllll.”

I growl again in warning, but I noticed that the voice was a girl’s voice, young like Hades, and somehow, I sensed sympathy and kindness in her tone. She walks forward, out from the shadow of the trees, and I am stunned by her beauty. I feel Hades, stir within our mind and I can tell, he is curious about her too.

She has white hair that is black at the roots, and the effect is almost ethereal and very striking. She has pretty features in her face too, though she is only about 10 years old like us, so still with a little baby fat. But it’s her eyes that draw me in, a beautiful sapphire blue that seem to sparkle, as you stare into them and I realise that I truly am staring.

As I come back to myself, I notice she is much closer than she was, almost within touching distance, which startles me, so I attempt to move back away from her. But my injuries, won’t allow me to move very well and I collapse again. I let out a whimper of frustration and pain, then, while I am feeling sorry for myself, I feel her touch the top of my head and stroke my ears.

I freeze and wait to see what else she will do, that is when I notice the light sensation of warmth, spreading from where she is touching my fur.

‘Could this possibly be? But we are not old enough to know for sure yet.’

“It’s okay. Let me help you get better.”

          I take one last look into her eyes before, I let out a huff of acceptance and relax into her touch.

**

“Well Hades it seems our fate is in the hands of this girl for now.”

“Are you certain we can trust her?”

“Yes. Trust me and I will never lead you astray. We are one after all.”

“Okay.”

**

He returns to the back of our mind, and I return my attention to the girl.

Time to see if my instincts are right.